Chereads / Lucky the Werechipmunk / Chapter 34 - The upending rigor of mortise

Chapter 34 - The upending rigor of mortise

"I want to make an unbreakable bond, something that lasts forever."

"Are you sure you really want to do that? The natural order of things provides that everything that is built is eventually broken down and supplies the cycle to continue itself."

"You know I don't care about natural laws. You know the order of this world offends me and I want nothing more than to break its chain of abuse."

"I do know that, but that doesn't change that you weren't built for forever and that attempting to reach that far will break you. A chain is only as strong.."

"I'm going to stop you right there before you complete that cliche. I realize the inherent problems with my mortality, now more than ever. And I think I have a solution, or at least a temporary work around until I can find something more permanent. I just want to have this ready for when I'll need it."

"I understand you're resolute, but have you considered that there may come a time that you would want to break the bond yourself or even that you might need to?"

"If nothing is forever, then I've failed at my first goal which was to end this cycle of impermanence. Whatever troubles follow would never vex me as much as not achieving this."

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Cerberus sensed Lucky's presence. "How did it go?"

Lucky rushed in and crawled unto his lap then chirped a detailed account of what she remembered. As she chirped her tail bobbed up and down. Cerberus listened intently despite finding his focus constantly interrupted by how adorable she was. It was hard to imagine that sleeping inside her was the most powerful and feared ice dragon known to the Fae. Zion knew this and not only let her go but sent her back with gifts. including the go piece she dropped in his hand while telling him how Zion changed its color.

"Well, that's...very... interesting." Cerberus said as he gently pet Lucky behind the ears while staring at the transformed go piece in his hand. He rolled the piece between his fingers, and as it fanned through his digits its color began to change back, however, before its color completely reverted, the piece started to melt like gallium, leaving smudges of reflective silver all over his fingers. Looking at his hand in horror he turned his head towards Lucky. "How long were you by the broken mirror gate?"

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The Fae king was restless. He was aware Zion, Contessa and Cerberus had been apprehended and were currently being detained, but his mind was not at ease with the task at hand. He needed to be the one to interrogate Zion, but with his current state he wasn't certain he could convince anyone even remotely loyal to him to allow him to do that alone. He had to think of something, so he did the only thing he knew to do, which was utilize the extensive library for research. The realm of the Fae contained manuscripts on magic as old as the world and annals of history much older than that. The Fae king's personal library was easily the most robust. It had entire volumes on Zion including everything he had written himself in his personal diary.

"Your Majesty, what's with the sudden interest in astral projection and mirror gates? I understand it was inevitably your goal to fix the one in your bedroom, but do you think this honestly has something to do with your current problem and not simply a spell cast by that lich? Also when can we begin the interrogation?" the Fairy asked.

Realizing that there was literally no escape from the personal attendants constantly waiting on and monitoring him he blurted out "Whatever my condition is, I am still cautious of this entire situation. I don't want to act impulsively. I need to carefully consider everything."

"I understand your Highness, forgive me for being concerned, you just haven't been yourself lately." The fairy attendant responded. "I'll leave you to your reading."

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Once upon a time there was a lonely spider. The universe was already large and expanding all around her. Bored and saddened from solitude, she tried to understand inertia to manipulate it in hopes that she could draw something to herself. As time passed she spun more and more silk, her web evergrowing. It wasn't long before she held the whole universe on a string. Everything that is she has already ensnared. Despite this, at best, creatures merely accepted her, but most often they fought her tooth and nail. She had the most powerful magic and yet no one ever even bothered to get to know her unless it was in attempt to escape. How could she keep things close to her if they only wanted to escape? Even though the spider had trapped the world she was still unbearably lonely.